Girdle



April 1, 1947. M. R. WILLIAMS GIRDLE Filed Jan.

- INVENTOR. fia guen'fe 1? Williams W a/fm/ Patented Apr. 1, 1947 GIRDLE Marguerite R. Williams, New York, N. Y., as-

signor to Lily of France Corset Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 17, 1945, Serial N0. 573,159

2 Claims.

This invention relates to girdles. Among the objects of the invention is to provide a girdle in which the usual control effected upon the figure of a wearer is supplemented by improved control of the abdomen without impairment of comfort.

Another object of the invention is to provide a girdle having a panel arranged to mold and hold firm the abdomen of a wearer in conjunction with elastic material and side sections of horizontally inextensible material attached or otherwise tied to the panel only in regions of its greatest width, whereby the greatest horizontal pull on the panel is exerted over an area of the abdomen where forceful control is desired and in a band where the greatest stability of the front of the garment can be obtained. The action provided, in addition to effecting forceful restraint over the abdomen at the location of greatest need, causes a wearer to assume good posture without discomfort. These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing showing the best mode in which I have contemplated applying the principle of my invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a girdle embodying the principle of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the girdle as seen from the right side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the girdle shown in Fig. 1';

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional View of a detail on line 4,-4 of Fig. 1.

The girdle of the present invention is a bodyencircling garment extending from an upper waistline edge to a bottom edge below the hips. The main portion of the front of the garment is a panel I consisting of substantially inelastic material. Its upper and lower edges II and I2 are intersected at each side of the front panel by sloping side edges which meet intermediate the longitudinal dimension of the front panel at points which define the greatest horizontal dimension of the panel.

The left side edge of the front panel, as seen in Fig. 1, is defined by intersecting edges I3 and I4 which form an obtuse angle at I5 and. respectively slope inwardly of the panel, edge I3 meeting with upper edge II in an obtuse angle and edge I4 meeting with lower edge I2 in an obtuse angle. The right side edges. I6 and I! meet at point I8 and each has a slope opposite to edges I3 and I4, respectively, whereby sloping edges I3 and I6 converge upwardly to upper edge II and sloping edges I4 and I1 converge downwardly'to lower edge I2 from an imaginary horizontal line I9 passing through points I5 and I8. The front panel consequently is of an hexagonal form. While the degree of slope and the configuration of side edges I3, I4, I6 and Il may vary, it is the aim of the invention to locate the greatest width of the front panel with respect to the body of a wearer so that it may be held relatively fixed be tween points I5 and I8, whereby the front panel I0 is horizontally tensioned against the abdomen, as will appear hereinafter from the description of the remaining portions of the garment.

The garment is so designed that the imaginary horizontal line I9 (generally described as passing through the regions of intersection of sloping sides I3 and I4, and of intersection of sloping sides IB and ID will be located in line with the hip bones of the wearer.

In order that the garment shall have sufiicient elasticity above and below the imaginary hori; zontal line I9 to respond to movements of a person wearing the garment, horizontally extensible pieces of material, such as elastic fabric, are attached to the longitudinal edges of the central panel. These pieces of extensible material constitute and fill tapered areas at 20, 2 l 22 and 23. The upper edges of elastic materials 20 and 22 are in continuation of the upper edge II of the front panel and their front longitudinal edges are sewed to the sloping edges I3 and I6, respectively, of the front panel. The lower edges of elastic materials 2| and 23 are in continuation of the lower edge I2 of the front panel, and the front longitudinal edges of these elastic materials are sewed to the sloping edges I4 and I1, respectively, of the front panel. While the material covering the areas 20 and 2| may originally be separate from one another, it is preferred that the upper area 2|) and the lower area 2| be of one piece having the general shape of the combined areas 20 and 2|. This is also true with respect to the elastic material in upper and lower edge of the garment. These pieces constitute side sections 24 and 2 5. The front edge 28 and rear edge 21 of each of these side sections are suitably curved to conform to the figure of the wearer, but in the main extend longitudinally of the garment.

The edges of the front panel preferably lie ad- Jacent the front edges 26 and 26' of the side sections 24 and 25, respectively, at regions I! and it; -.Each of the side sections is attached to the front panel only opposite regions I5 and it, re-

upon the person of the wearer will be exerted.

along the imaginary line is. This will tend to press and support the abdomen at the location of spectively. This has the effect of properly locating the garment on the wearer and of extending the effective length of non-stretchable material across the front of the garment to the rear edges of the side sections and, therefore, around the body of the wearer beyond the lateral extremities of the front panel. The front panel is thereby firmly held against the abdomen.

So as to assure an inextensible connection between the front panel and side sections 24 and 25, it is desirable that they be tied together opposite regions i5 and it of the front panel. One manner of accomplishing this is shown in Figs. 1 and 4 as constituting astape 28. The tape is sewn to the side section 24 and to the front panel I0 and extends across their edges on the inner side of the garment. The material designated to in Fig. 4 is the connecting portion of the piece of elastic material filling areas 20 and 2|. Vertically extending tapes 3i and 32 overlie tape 28 and extend over the elastic material and along the longitudinal front edge of side section 24 and along the sloping edges l3 and I! of the front panel.

Inasmuch as an opening is required for adlusting the garment on the person of a wearer, the garment is provided with a longitudinal opening at 33, which is closable at will. This opening may be conveniently placed between the elastic material filling areas 22 and 23 and side section 25, For closing the opening a slidable clasp and track, or hooks and eyes, may be used and such mechanical means will serve to secure the front edge 26' of side section 25 to the front panel opposite region l8, as well as close the entire length of the opening. If the opening and means for closing the same is placed elsewhere a tying tape similar to tape 28 could be employed to connect the front and side section opposite region I8.

The rear portion of the garment may be variously 'formed with non-extensible material and horizontally extensible material sewed together and assembled as a rear section. In the drawings I have shown a rear panel 36 of inextensible material extending longitudinally of the garment from its upper to its lower edge. One side edge 31 of this rear panel is secured to a longitudinallyextending strip 38 of horizontally extensible material which likewise extends from the upper to the lower edge of the garment and is attached to side section 25 along edge 39. A similar strip of horizontally extensible material 40 is attached to the side edge ll of the rear panel 36 and to the rear edge 21 of side section 24.

It will be appreciated that the tapering areas of'elastic material 20 and 22 at the waist of the garment and tapering areas of elastic material 2i and 23 at the lower part of the garment will provide flexibility at the front of the garment in .sumes a sitting position.

its greatest need. The combination of conditions that produce the best average result is attained when-the garment is so formed that the extremities of the maximum width of the front panel reach the crests of the hip bones at either side of the figure.

It is preferable that the upper ed e H of the front panel be provided with an elastic gore 43 at its center so as to relieve the tightness of the girdle along its upper edge when the wearer as- The usual hose supporters 44, 45, 48, ll, 48 and 49 may be attached to the lower portion of the garment, as desired.

What is claimed is:

1. A girdle comprising a tubular garment for encircling the body of a wearer from an upper waistline edge to below the hips, said tubular garment including a central front panel of horizontally inextensible material with its greatest dimension extending longitudinally from the upper edge of the garment to the lower edge of the garment and having-opposite side edges converging upwardly to the upper edge of the panel and downwardly to the lower edge of the panel and thereby locating the greatest horizontal dimension of the front panel in line with the hip bones of a wearer, longitudinally extending side sections of horizontally inextensible material, said side sections being attached to said opposite side edges of said front panel, one at each side, only at the extremities of said greatest horizontal dimension of said front panel, horizontally extensible pieces of material attached to said front panel along its converging opposite side edges and to said side sections along their longitudinally extending front edges, there being one of said pieces of material extending in one-piece from the upper to the lower edge of the garment at each side of said front panel and thereby providing upper and lower horizontally extensible tapering areas adjacent the converging side edges of said front panel with progressively increasing extensibility laterally of the front of the garment upwardly and downwardly from the greatest horizontal dimension of the front panel, a rear section having its side edges attached to the rear edges of said side sections to complete the tubular garment, and an opening part way along one seam of said garment and means for closing said opening.

2. A girdle comprising a tubular garment for encircling the body of a wearer, said tubular garment having such length as to extend from an upper waistline edge to below the hips and comprising a front panel of substantially inelastic material having an upper edge in the upper edge of the. garment, a lower edge in the lower edge of the garment and opposite side edges, each of said opposite side edges being broken into two lines meeting in an obtuse angle whose apex lies substantially over the hip bone of a wearer, side sections of substantially inelastic material extending fromthe upper edge of the garment to the lower edge of the garment and connected to said front panel only at the said apices formed by said broken line of each of the opposite side edges of said front panel, relatively inextensible means connecting said side sections to said apices of said front panel whereby the horizontal inextensibil- 5 ity of said front panel is prolonged to the rear edges of said side panels through said apices of said front panel, horizontally extensible pieces of material attached to said front panel along its said opposite side edges and to said side sections along their longitudinally extending front edges and providing upper and lower tapering areas which converge on the apices formed by said broken lines 01' the opposite side edges of said front panel, a rear section comprising a substantially rectangular panel of substantially inelastic material extending from the waist to the lower edge of the garment and horizontally extensible pieces of material attached-to said rear panel along its longitudinally extending side edges and to the rear edges of said side panels, and an opening part way along a seam of said garment and means for closing said opening.

MARGUERITE R. WILLIAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,308,870 Schloss July 8, 1919 1,278,335 Guggenheim Sept. 10, 1918 1,848,633 Kops Mar. 8. 1932 1,577,085 Tighe Mar.. 16, 1926 2,068,493 Kispert Jan. 19, 1937 2,326,476 Mayer Aug. 10, 1943 

